Development and implementation of a nutrition education programme for primary school teachers in Bronkhorstspruit Gauteng Province South Africa (original) (raw)
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Ecology of food and nutrition, 2016
We investigated the nutrition education (NE) practices of teachers of grade 4‒7 learners in 11 primary schools (85% of total number) of the Bronkhorstspruit district (Gauteng Province) to identify opportunities for improving NE in these schools. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out among a convenient sample of the teachers (N = 73) using a structured nutrition education practice questionnaire. Descriptive data analysis was done. Results showed that the majority of the teachers taught nutrition in about 10% to 20% of their teaching time. Thirty percent had no training to teach nutrition, and most teachers (86%) would like to receive training in nutrition. Teachers mostly taught nutrition as part of the curriculum (67%) and very few (18%) integrated nutrition into other subjects. Needing improvement were adequate classroom time for nutrition education delivery, continuing training in nutrition for teachers, and provision of up-to-date instructional materials for teachi...
The main purpose of this study was to identify the challenges to the effective implementation of the Food and Nutrition curriculum in secondary school in Chivi district of Zimbabwe. The research is imperative in that the findings of the study will assist government and other key stakeholders in education to provide support towards the implementation the Food and Nutrition curriculum focused on the identified critical challenges. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design in which 5 schools selected through purposive sampling technique. The population for this study comprised of 60 Ordinary level students in all the secondary schools in Chivi district that are offering food and nutrition as a subject at Ordinary level, 5 school heads and 3 Food and nutrition teachers. The sample comprised of 20 students, 10 parents chosen by a simple random sampling technique. The three teachers and the five school heads automatically became part of the sample. A structured questionnaire, interviews and observations were used as data collection instruments. The findings reveal the following challenges as militating against the effective implementation of the Food and Nutrition curriculum in Chivi district secondary schools: negative attitude by parents and students towards the subject; inadequate professional and qualified teachers for the teaching of Food and Nutrition; inadequate infrastructure and equipment in schools and where the equipment is available it being underutilized due to lack of expertise and inconsistent electrical power supply ; insufficient instructional materials and books in schools ; and that schools are generally poorly financed. Four key recommendations arising from the study are that quarterly awareness campaigns should be carried out in society to educate the public about the importance of Food and Nutrition as well as technical and vocational subjects in the curriculum; training programs in form of seminars, conferences, workshops and in-servicing, should be organized at regular intervals to equip teachers with the requisite skills for the teaching of Food and Nutrition; school should form partnerships with the industries and corporate bodies aimed at financing the implementation of Food and Nutrition curriculum and vocational subjects in secondary schools and that adequate infrastructure, resource materials and facilities should be provided in schools for effective teaching and learning; __________________________________________________________________________________________
Nutrition knowledge competencies of intermediate and senior phase educators in Limpopo Province
South African Journal of Childhood Education
Background: Children’s food preferences and willingness to try new foods are influenced by the people around them, including families and teachers. The eating behaviours children practise early in life may continue to shape their food attitudes and eating patterns through adulthood.Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the nutrition knowledge competencies of educators in primary schools.Setting: This study was conducted in Makhuduthamaga local municipality, Limpopo Province, South Africa.Methods: This study adopted a quantitative, descriptive and exploratory research design. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 30 primary schools and purposively select 200 educators responsible for Grades 5–7. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 21.Results: Of the 200 educators, 66.5% were women and 34% were trained at a college and had teaching experience of between 21 and 30 years. Most of the educators knew the importanc...
Public Health Nutrition, 2013
ObjectiveTo explore the perceptions of educators from the Western Cape Province about the feasibility of implementing South African food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) in the national curriculum of primary schools.DesignCombined quantitative and qualitative methods. We report on the quantitative component.SettingTwelve public primary schools of different socio-economic status in three education districts of the Western Cape: Metro Central, Metro East and Cape Winelands.SubjectsEducators (n 256) participated in the self-completed questionnaire survey.ResultsEducators assessed that FBDG were appropriate to South African schoolchildren (94%), could be used as an education tool (97%) and fill gaps in the current curriculum about healthy dietary habits (91%). Besides Life Orientation, FBDG could be taught in other learning areas from grades 3 to 7 (9–13 years old). Important barriers to implementing FBDG in the curriculum were educators’ workload (61%), insufficient time (46%), learners...
Frontiers in Public Health
Background: Evaluating the impact of a nutrition education program could provide insight into the effectiveness of an intervention. Researchers tested the hypothesis that a theory-based contextual nutrition education program (NEP) would improve the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and dietary practices (KAP) of teachers and learners. Methods: Twenty three teachers who taught nutrition in Grades 4-7 (treatment school, n = 12) and 681 learners (treatment school, n = 350) participated in the study. In this quasi-experimental study, two primary schools were randomly selected to implement a contextual NEP. The nutrition KAP were assessed using previously validated questionnaires. The treatment school teachers taught nutrition using a developed nutrition education manual, while the control school teachers taught nutrition in the usual manner. Random effects Generalized Least Squares regression estimated the difference in the teachers' and learners' KAP for the treatment and control schools; p = 0.025 for a one-tailed test. Results: At post-implementation, the treatment school teachers' had higher total nutrition knowledge mean score (85.5% ± 8.2, p = 0.003) compared to the control school. Within the treatment school, total nutrition knowledge mean score of the teachers improved by 14.1%, p ≤ 0.001. Learners in the treatment school had higher total nutrition knowledge (53.2% ± 16.9, p = 0.002) and nutrition attitude (63.9% ± 19.7, p = 0.001) scores compared to learners in the control school. Within the treatment school, learners' total nutrition knowledge and nutrition attitudes scores increased by 4.9%, p ≤ 0.001 and 6.9%, p ≤ 0.001, respectively. The dietary practices of the teachers and the learners, and the nutrition attitudes of the teachers in the treatment school showed no significant within school improvement or in comparison with the control school (p > 0.025). Conclusions: The NEP led to the improvement in the teachers' and the learners' nutrition knowledge and the learners' nutrition attitudes. However, no significant improvement in the dietary practices of either teachers or learners was found.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Overweight and obesity are growing concerns in adolescents, particularly in females in South Africa. The aim of this study was to evaluate the food and nutrition environment in terms of government policy programs, nutrition education provided, and foods sold at secondary schools in the Eastern Cape province. Sixteen schools and grade 8–12 learners (N = 1360) were randomly selected from three health districts comprising poor disadvantaged communities. Based on age and sex specific body mass index (BMI) cut-off values, 13.3% of males and 5.5% of females were underweight, while 9.9% of males and 36.1% of females were overweight or obese. The main food items purchased at school were unhealthy energy-dense items such as fried flour dough balls, chocolates, candies, and crisps/chips. Nutrition knowledge scores based on the South African food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) were poor for 52% to 23.4% learners in Grades 8 to 12, respectively. Female learners generally had significantly hig...
ICCD, 2018
Healthy eating and daily active lifestyle is important for good health and development of school children, who are vulnerable to malnutrition which can disrupt their learning process and school achievement. On the other hand, the primary school teachers and parents can play an important role in the education and promotion of healthy eating and active lifestyle for the children. The aim of this community service program was to develop a teaching guideline and interactive nutrition education (TG-INE) module for primary school teachers. This activity was held on January – August 2018 in Bogor Agricultural University. The steps of this activity included: 1). Establishment of technical working group (TWG); 2). Review the existing nutrition education module for primary school students; and 3). Development of teaching guideline and interactive nutrition education module for teacher. The component in the TWG which were formed consists of school principals, nutrition professional society (Fo...
Nutrition knowledge of Grade R learners in Durban suburban schools: an intervention study
Journal of consumer sciences, 2016
The aim was to determine the effect of a nutrition education programme (NEP) on the nutrition knowledge of Grade R learners. The study was conducted in four phases. Grade R educators (n=20) from randomly selected urban government and private schools significant (p=0.035) post-test difference between EGG (83.30) and CG (71.47). The NEP post-test results indicated that the EG girls (EGG 89.62% and EPG 87.50%) were more knowledgeable than the boys (EGG 87.00%), an insignificant difference. The study concludes that a resource-dense NEP with children actively involved in a non-threatening environment will increase nutrition knowledge. in Durban completed a nutrition education questionnaire (NEQ) to identify activities and visuals suitable for this age group (Phase 1). Consequently, a classroom-based NEP was developed by the researcher in consultation with the foundation phase teacher recruited to teach the NEP. The participating schools were randomly selected from the 20 that had participated in the NEQ. A nutrition knowledge questionnaire (NKQ) was developed and tested. Fieldworkers and educators were sourced and trained (Phase 2). The intervention involved 120 Grade R learners in three schools: a government school (Experimental group-EGG) (n=37), a private school (Experimental group-EPG) (n=40) and one Control group (CG) (n=43), a private school. The same foundation phase teacher implemented the eight-hour (eightweek) NEP to Grade R learners in each experimental group (EG); the CG did not receive any nutrition education (NE) (Phase 3). Pre-and post-test knowledge was
Nutrition education tools for primary school children in the Vaal region
Development Southern Africa, 2011
South Africa's high prevalence of malnutrition severely affects children's well-being and ability to learn. According to the World Bank, malnutrition is found in households from all spheres of life, since caregivers are not well informed about healthy food choices and feeding practices. A long-term solution to the problem is to encourage people to grow food and improve their incomes, but a quicker solution is to provide health and nutrition education and services to encourage healthy food choices. This paper describes the development of nutrition education tools (NETs) as part of a nutrition education programme for primary school children (Grades 1 to 3) from low-income households in South Africa. The study used the Food and Agriculture Organization's framework for nutrition education to develop simple, cost-effective, appropriate and applicable NETs.